RBS - Direct Line Conveyancing Panel Information

There are many reports available, five of which are as follows:

• Disclosure/Notification to Lender analysis indicating frequency and nature of disclosures - to include benchmarking analysis against aggregate data
• The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale/purchase and remortgage)
• Buy to Let transactions
• Average time frame to send deeds to the lender (calculated from completion date or title registration)
• Number of conveyancing cases by lender

What you should do largely depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the RBS - Direct Line conveyancing panel. The top 3 reasons are as follows:

1. lack of transactions
2. the lawyer is a sole practitioner
3. as part of the HSBC panel reduction.

In these three circumstances it is unlikely that you would expected to take any action. Disclosure and other compliance considerations are more likely to be relevant if the reason for removal is due to breaches of lender requirements or allegations of fraud or negligence. Whether the reasoning should trigger a disclosable 'material' breach will depend on the firm and the circumstances around possible failures to comply with the SRA Authorisation Rules, and the SRA will judge each case on its own merits. Factors such as the detriment or risk of detriment to clients, the scale of the issue and overall impact on the firm will need to be considered in deciding whether a failure is 'material'. As the compliance officer you will need systems to identify patterns of breaches. Even if you don't consider there to be regulatory implications the firms COFA should give some thought to whether she/he needs to take any action as result of being removed from the RBS - Direct Line conveyancing panel.

During 2013, 82 sections of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook P2 were changed by RBS - Direct Line. Some changes are more important than others but as a firm on the RBS - Direct Line conveyancing panel you are of course obliged to comply with individual lender requirements, as set out in Part II of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. Locktons have recently pointed out in an article that non-compliance with Part 2 requirements account for a number of high value claims, and it is therefore important to be aware of any particularly onerous terms that an individual lender may impose.

Remember: CML requirements are not guidelines; they are the lender client’s instructions.

The key here is the caveat ‘more onerous’. You have to try and take an objective view as to whether the Terms relating to the RBS - Direct Line conveyancing appointment (or other terms for other lenders) are ‘more onerous’ than the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Conditions. Depending on the Terms you may need to provide details on your renewal form. If you are in any doubt please call your broker to discuss before moving forward on this question.

In this situation please clarify on the application what steps you have taken to discover the reasons behind cancellation of your RBS - Direct Line panel status. In particular please provide details if you have received communications from the lender. E.G. before termination of your panel membership did you receive any letters or calls from the lender putting you on notice?

You need to communicate with RBS - Direct Line to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook includes an express inquiry for banks to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. RBS - Direct Line in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to disclose the firm’s RBS - Direct Line solicitors panel reference.